HD4870 mini-review

14 Aug 2008 18:39 (Edited: 14 Aug 2008 18:39)

Tested my HD4870 out, and it's every bit as good as I could have hoped for, better in some cases. Yes, the 3dmark score is poor, but that means nothing.
I'm getting relatively playable frame rates in Crysis all High at 2560x1600, I'm maxing out FEAR:Perseus Mandate and averaging over 100fps in normal gameplay with 4xAA, 16xAF, Soft shadows, the works.

Counter Strike needless to say, averages around 120fps, all maxed out with 4xAA in a busy server.
Team Fortress 2 averages around 50fps in GoldRush in a busy server, maxed out with 4xAA.
Age of Conan runs OKish at around 20fps maxed out with 4xAA, but no Bloom applied. Same settings earns me around 30fps average at 1920x1200, which is perfectly playable.
Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance, once unplayable at almost any resolution on my HD3870, is now maxable with 4xAA at an average of around 16 in a busy base, which is alright (this is RTS after all).
Yet to try GRiD which will be a teller as according to the tech report, 4xAA at 2560 will slow the 4870 to a crawl like it would in Crysis. We shall see.
Fan is dead silent at idle, spins up a lot more than I was expecting at load, is noticeable but not intrusive, and keeps the card around the 80C mark, which is all fine, was expecting higher. PowerPlay works great even on an engineering sample, and the microstuttering is gone! It even supports Return to Castle Wolfenstein again which didn't work on my 3870...
Last thing to check is to see if the DirectDraw alt-tab bug from my 3870 is still present. If it is, I'd give this card a solid 9.5/10 anyway, a full ten if it isn't, it's exceeded my expectations in spectacular style - GTX200 series style performance, X1900 reliability, trademark ATI image quality.

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User comments

by sammorris @ 18 Aug 2008 9:36

Update to this - GRiD with 4xAA is indeed a complete lost cause at 2560x1600.

by Estuansis @ 20 Aug 2008 7:47

Lol, this is all good to know. I'm hoping to have mine by Monday :P

by abuzar1 @ 20 Aug 2008 23:24

I'm hopin to get rid of mine... actually I'm not because I couldn't afford on in the first place! haha

by xChronox @ 25 Apr 2009 21:30

very nice mini-review sam.

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